Who's Killing Florida's Wetlands? We Are

Florida's vanishing wetlands

If Wetlands Are Filled, Central Florida Yards Can Get Flooded. Some Say The State Doesn't Watch The Fragile Lands Closely.

August 31, 1997|By Katherine Bouma of The Sentinel Staff

Quietly and gradually, Florida's wetlands protection has been decentralized, dismantled and downplayed.

Although the state is making heroic efforts to save Kissimmee River and Everglades wetlands, thousands of ordinary wetlands are being drained every year.

Not the famous marshes that attract tourists and save species from extinction.

Just the average boggy land that keeps your house from getting flooded.

Florida has more wetlands than any other state - more than 11 million acres at last count.

But the state lost about 13,000 acres of wetlands a year between 1984 and 1990, according to the most recent survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. No one can say how many acres will be left when the results of the next survey are released around the turn of the century.

''DEP spends as much money on computers each year as it does on its wetlands program,'' said Jeremy Craft, who headed the wetlands program at the Florida Department of Environmental Protection before his job and division were eliminated this summer. ''And the computer system doesn't work. They're just alike.''

Wetlands are the swamps, marshes and edges of lakes that are the home to a majority of the nation's endangered species. They're the spots where the water pools in rainy times, until it can sink into the ground and recharge Florida's drinking water.

They're the places where polluted water gets filtered and cleaned.

Florida's wetlands traditionally have been under siege from developers.

But now evidence is gathering that the state is backing away from its traditional job as protector of the fragile lands:

DEP staff assigned to wetlands protection has dropped every year for four years. This summer, the department eliminated the Tallahassee wetlands regulatory staff, delegating the work to district offices around the state.

DEP eliminated seven of its 19 enforcement attorneys a year ago.

Penalties levied against people who illegally destroy wetlands have dropped to about one-half or one-quarter of the total fines of just a few years ago, according to the department's own numbers. In past years, the total fines collected hovered around $1 million.

A review by The Orlando Sentinel of wetlands cases at the DEP office that oversees Central Florida showed nearly all penalties were for the same amount as a permit.

In fact, one file included a caution from a DEP attorney: ''Some people might take this to mean that they should go ahead and construct illegally because the most that will happen is paying what they would have had to pay in the first place.''

DEP can't provide its own estimate of the amount of wetlands destroyed - or even restored - in Florida because it quit tallying that information in 1993. However, the number of permits issued for wetlands destruction continues to rise.

From 1988 to 1993, DEP gradually delegated wetlands permitting authority over large developments and commercial properties to water management districts in much of the state, including Central Florida.

Poor watchdogs?

It may be too early to evaluate the performance of the water districts, but some critics have argued they are not equipped to protect wetlands. The districts were designed for flood control and water management - not to be a vigorous watchdog of Florida's environment.

Henry Dean, executive director of the St. Johns River Water Management District, says his agency is equipped to handle its responsibility.

''I will put my technical staff up against any technical staff in the nation,'' he said.

Dean said DEP began delegating authority for wetlands under pressure from the state Legislature to reduce its budget.

The harshest criticism of DEP's wetlands protection has come from within the department.

The nonprofit group Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility recently published a report accusing the department of a deliberate campaign to obstruct and subvert laws protecting wetlands. The group says the report was written anonymously by DEP staff members, an assertion the agency has not challenged.

DEP Secretary Virginia Wetherell, through a spokeswoman, would not comment, referring all questions to her staff.

''The program is running well, running as it should,'' said Phil Coram, a DEP bureau chief.

He said it's impossible to assess DEP's wetlands protection by ''bean counts'' of the number of staff, penalty dollars collected or acres of wetlands. ''That sort of thing is not reflective of what's going on in the environment,'' he said.

The department's new philosophy involves ''ecosystem management'' - protecting entire ecosystems rather than one land type, Coram said. At the same time, DEP has developed a pro-active approach toward wrongdoers that emphasizes working with potential violators to see that they don't break the law rather than penalizing them when they do.

In fact, Coram said the drop in penalties shows the department's success in reducing violations of wetlands laws.